Wozniak loves Windows Phone 7.5

I wish more people who work or have worked for large technology companies were as open, honest, and excited as Steve Wozniak still gets over new technology and gadgets. He recently bought a Nokia Lumia 900 – and he’s loving it. So much so, in fact, that he claims it’s better than Android and iOS in many respects.

Wozniak is one of those people I like listening to when it comes to technology. He has the credentials, he’s always nice and kind, isn’t pretentious, and prefers to wait in line for products like everyone else, even though his name alone would most likely net him any product for free without waiting. All this because he likes the experience.

And so, he was one of the people waiting in line for the Nokia Lumia 900 – which got picked up by Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, who welcomed him into the Nokia Lumia family (yeah, using a certain phone makes you part of a family now – I’m sorry I’m just reporting this nonsense).

We’re a few weeks down the line now, and as it turns out, Wozniak is pretty satisfied with the Lumia 900 and Windows Phone 7.5, detailing his experience in an interview for aNewDomain. Sure, he still prefers his iPhone, but WP7.5 beats both iOS and Android in several ways. He thinks it looks better, is more beautiful, and more intuitive than other platforms. He feels like WP7.5 is more of a friend than just a tool.

In a comment at aNewDomain, he gives a little more detail. “In my opinion, it sets the mark for user interface. I would recommend it over my Android phones given that it doesn’t yet have the breadth of apps,” Wozniak notes, “I surmise that Microsoft hired someone from Apple and put money into having a role in the UI and appearance of some key apps. I also surmised that Steve Jobs might have been reincarnated at MS due to a lot of what I see and feel with this phone making me think of a lot of great Apple things.”

I mostly agree with him on this one. Metro is, by a pretty huge margin, better-looking, more intuitive, and more pleasant to use than Android and iOS. Most OSNews readers are aware of my issues with iOS by now (childish, condescending, messy, inconsistent), most of which can be applied to Android as well (although Ice Cream Sandwich solves many of these issues, application developers aren’t using Holo just yet). Metro feels much more modern and intuitive than either Android or iOS.

The big issue with Windows Phone 7.5 is a lack of applications, and more importantly, a lack of quality applications. Microsoft’s own stuff, as well as the stock applications, are amazing, but third party stuff is often ugly, slow, and sometimes even downright confusing. This can probably be attributed to Metro being a very different UI environment, making it impossible to pull an Instagram and just copy/paste applications wholesale between different platforms. Microsoft would do well to invest in ways developers can get better acquainted with how to develop for Metro – not from a technical standpoint, but from a design standpoint.

Now, Wozniak is not about to give up his iPhone – it’s still his number one choice due to the superior application selection, but WP7.5 getting this much praise from him does mean something.

74 Comments

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